SEATTLE SOUNDERS FC (9-7-4; 31 POINTS)
AT TORONTO FC (4-10-8; 20 POINTS)
4 p.m. Saturday, BMO Field, Toronto
TV: KONG 6/16. RADIO: 97.3 FM.
HEAD TO HEAD: Seattle leads 5-1-1 and has won the last four meetings. NOTES: Newly signed designated player Clint Dempsey is expected to make his Sounders debut. … Both teams are 2-0-1 over their last three games. … Toronto is 2-3-6 at home, but unbeaten over its last three home matches. Seattle is 3-6-1 on the road. … Toronto is last in the 19-team league in shots and shots on target, 18th in goals, and 17th in goals per game and goal differential. … EPL veteran Robert Earnshaw leads the Reds with six goals. Designated player Danny Koevermans (calf) is questionable. … Toronto is 0-5-2 against Western Conference teams. … The Reds are in their first season under coach Ryan Nelson. … Sounders No. 1 goalkeeper Michael Gspurning trained this week and could be ready to return for the first time since injuring his left forearm in the July 13 game at San Jose. … Seattle’s all-time record in August is 10-4-4. … Sounders Eddie Johnson, Djimi Traore and Jhon Kennedy Hurtado are one caution away from a one-game suspension for accumulation. … The assigned referee is Mark Geiger.
QUOTABLE: “It’s a team that plays a pretty standard 4-4-2. They work pretty hard, reasonably direct in their approach and style of play. And even though they haven’t gotten a lot wins, they are not an easy team to beat because they make the game a little bit difficult and take the tempo of the game out a little bit.” – Sounders coach Sigi Schmid on Toronto
NEXT: At Houston Dynamo, 6 p.m. Aug. 17.

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